Police shot and killed a gunman who fired shots outside a popular Studio City shopping district, terrorizing shoppers and prompting a massive LAPD response.
The call of a man, later identiied as Seth Raines, with a gun and possible shots fired was reported at 3:28 p.m. in the 12000 block of Ventura Boulevard.
Frightened shoppers ran as others were ushered to safety by police.
Terry Burstein was driving along Ventura when she heard a noise and saw a man sitting outside a bank, shooting a gun in the air.
"Just randomly shooting shots in the sky," she said.
Burstein said she saw people, including five children, race out of a Chipotle and into a parking lot.
She said the gunman emptied a magazine and put the gun down "almost like in slow motion.
"He reached into a brown paper bag, got a new magazine and reloaded his gun and sat there," she said.
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Five minutes later, she said, he fired another shot into the air.
"He could've shot me, but he wasn't really focused on people," she said. "He seemed like a guy who was maybe a little out of touch. He seemed very passive. He didn't seem angry. He didn't say anything. It didn't seem to be his intent to kill people.
"It was only until the police arrived when the sirens went off all hell broke loose."
Witness Wyatt Toroshian said he was in the bathroom at the Starbucks across the street when he came out and noticed police -- their guns drawn toward the Union Bank building -- at the corner.
"I looked right at the individual who was holding a gun concealed under a piece of paper and saw them fire two shots directly at him," he said.
The individual appeared to be homeless, "overweight and scraggly," Toroshian said. He didn't appear to have any business with the bank.
"It had to be a minute and a half," he said. "It was very, very quick. No alarm, no nothing. It was completely silent. The officers just swooped down on scene immediately."
Ventura Boulevard was temporarily closed to traffic between Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Laurelgrove Avenue. Ventura Boulevard was reopened between Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Whitsett Avenue around 4:30 a.m on Saturday.
Aerial footage showed an uncovered body in or near a flower pot in front of two banks. A bomb squad robot was retrieving a suspicious device from near where the body of the gunman lay.
There were no reports of injuries.
Conan Nolan, Beverly White and Rosa Ordaz contributed to this report.
